“We do care.” – Silent protest in Russia
Diana lives in Saint-Petersburg. Since the 24th of February – when Putin started his war against Ukraine – she has demonstrated against war and for peace. She stands up against the Russian regime risking her own freedom and her own physical integrity. She got arrested twice. The second time she spent 11 days in prison.
For TEMA Magazine, she has reported on her personal experiences in Russia since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Here you can read the report on her arrest, about the days after her arrest and the report about her days in prison.
Since new law regulations came up and public protest became almost impossible, Russian activists are finding other ways to fight back against the Russian regime. Diana gives us an overview of the current situation. She talks about surveillance, about silent protest and hopelessness.
© Diana
It’s been a while since my latest update and I want to talk about what happened in Russia lately and why people have stopped fighting loudly against the government.
Regulations applied
Since the beginning of march, there are new law regulations in the Code of Administrative offences and the Criminal Code for public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and public actions discrediting the Armed Forces.
Now these regulations are fully applied by the government to cut off any type of anti-war resistance. It’s hard to imagine how many police forces are put into it and how random people are detained for literally nothing.
We can’t publicly call the war by its name. Government consider it a “special military operation” aimed to “protect the population, demilitarise, denazificate Ukraine”. If you disagree with the government policy, you are declared to support extremist activities.
The Internet is not safe anymore either. The Centre for Combating Extremism is watching Twitter, Instagram, Telegram chats, Facebook and vkontakte (Russian social network) in order to find anything “discrediting”.
In monitoring social media, the Centre for Combating Extremism is tracking individuals for alleged cases of public dissemination of false information about the use of the armed forces. People were accused of posting “information and photos of destroyed residential buildings and children with injuries suffered from alleged airstrikes and artillery strikes by the Armed forces of the Russian Federation”. (Quote from the protocol of criminal prosecution against the deputy of the Omsk City Council, who was accused of posting on his Telegram channel.) They got punished with imprisonment – not for days, but for months or even years.
With the Z, Russian forces mark their military equipment. With a crossed out Z, activists show their opposition to the Russian military.
”It’s truly ridiculous to read protocols”
Everyone who is taking part in anti-war rallies is being detained. People doing a single picket with a poster are detained – no matter what is written. The government considers everything that is written as a “discreditions” to the Armed forces. These are some of the paroles that lead to detention: “No war”, “Peace”, “Fascism will not pass!”, “Do not kill!”, “*** ****”, even quotes from Putin's own speech. Actually, everything containing the words “war” or “peace” in written letters discredits the army when shown in public. There are cases where people were detained with a pack of sausages or a credit card. It’s truly ridiculous to read protocols.
Silent protest
Of course you can’t wear the colours of the Ukrainian flag anywhere. People were detained for a hat, sneakers, manicure or jackets. Sometimes they didn’t even have the intention to do a so-called “silent protest”. Silent protest developed in Russia due to the impossibility to take part in rallies or demonstrations.
The green ribbon is a symbol for silent protest and shows resistance to the Army.
Fundraising for Ukrainian refugees or the military can lead to card blocking or detainment. Banks report about money donations of this kind to the government.
Never touch a police officer
Under these circumstances, people still try to do something. Mostly they focus on informing citizens who aren’t aware of the war in Ukraine (since all the independent media is blocked and government propaganda puts lots of forces to influence on minds). To resist this informational war, activists have started to put small posters and stickers on walls and to draw anti-war graffiti everywhere in cities. People change price tickets in supermarkets with tiny notes on the amount of people killed during the war or leave such notes in public places. They put wooden crosses on children playgrounds with information on children victims in Mariupol, for example. However, such initiatives are also blocked by police that started to track down activists with surveillance cameras.
Coming to the worst government repressions: increasing criminal prosecution. The punishment is imprisonment for up to 10 years. First, cases were against people who took part in rallies and “used violence against police” or “resisted the police”. That’s why you should never touch a police officer even with a finger when you take part in a rally in Russia (even if you start to get beaten by police). Self-defence is forbidden and being “rebellious” can lead to imprisonment.
© Diana
Revolution is impossible.
No opposition politicians, no opposition media – they all got eliminated step by step. Citizens who are against the government policy are left alone without any support from the army or police. When foreigners encourage us to go to demonstrations or the like, I assume they don’t really get the conditions we’re living in. Some people that stand up publicly nevertheless disappear in prison and no one in the rest of the (free) world cares. Because the “free world” already made up their mind about Russians: people who are themselves to be blamed because they voluntarily chose Putin.
“We do care.”
After all, I can assure you that there are lots and lots of people in Russia who would give up their lives immediately to stop the war right now. If we were just given a tool, an instruction – or at least a good chance of success.Though, due to the fact that collective actions are being blocked, people simply don’t believe that they are capable of changing anything anymore.
We talk about the war every day, every time. I wish I found a way to influence, to help people and to stop the war. Seems like there’s no way. However, I do care. We do care.